Beckham swept off his feet by Spurs stadium

Beckham swept off his feet by Spurs stadium
AFP

London (AFP) – David Beckham has told Mauricio Pochettino he wishes he could play for Tottenham Hotspur at the club’s new stadium after watching their 4-0 home win over Crystal Palace on Saturday.

Former England captain Beckham was in the stands as the north Londoners scored four times before the break, with Son Heung-min netting twice, Serge Aurier forcing an own goal from Patrick van Aanholt and Erik Lamela completing the rout.

“I think it’s an amazing stadium,” said Pochettino.

“I was talking to David Beckham just now and he said, ‘I wish I could still play football and play now for Tottenham because this stadium is amazing’. He said, ‘I wish I could play here and play for you!’

“It’s only the beginning. We haven’t played too many games here. For us it’s so important to make our stadium our home and start to feel comfortable.

“It’s completely different to White Hart Lane and of course I think with time we are going to feel at home and it’s going to be difficult for opponents to beat us.”

– ‘First-half was fantastic’ –

Tottenham had struggled in their previous two home matches, having to come from behind against Aston Villa before losing 1-0 to Newcastle.

But the European transfer window was still open at that time, casting uncertainty on the immediate future of players such as Christian Eriksen -– and Pochettino is unsurprised that his side were far deadlier against Palace.

“I think it showed that the team was unsettled (before),” he said.

“The focus wasn’t on the places we wanted it and it’s not easy to perform that way.

“Of course we have quality, enough to win games without focus, but when you are focused it showed in that first half with the performance of the team — the intensity, the concentration.

“If we show that intensity in all our games for sure we are going to fight for big things. I am so happy to recover that feeling.”

Pochettino picked right-back Aurier for the first time this season and the Ivorian responded by setting up two goals.

“I think he was very happy, and we were very happy too,” said Pochettino.

“The first half was fantastic, his concentration and focus.

“Now he needs to show and be consistent — it’s not only one game, and the second game the focus and intensity start to drop.”

Palace arrived with cause for confidence, lying in the top four and boasting the best defensive record in the league, but they left with their tails firmly between their legs.

“All of us — manager, coaching staff and players — are prepared to accept the responsibility for that,” said Palace manager Roy Hodgson.

“I have to say Son’s performance in the first half was outstanding.

“It was also interesting in the last minutes of the game he was the one sprinting back into position to try and stop us scoring a goal.

“I can’t speak for Mauricio Pochettino, but if I had a player do what Son did today I would be really delighted.”

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